


Inevitable In Its Finality

by fishfingersandjellybabies



Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-26
Updated: 2017-11-26
Packaged: 2019-02-06 22:01:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,344
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12827013
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fishfingersandjellybabies/pseuds/fishfingersandjellybabies
Summary: He had to face facts. He and Damian were going to die, and there was nothing any of them could do about it.





	Inevitable In Its Finality

**Author's Note:**

> *Demi Lovato’s ‘Sorry Not Sorry’ plays on repeat as I slink away*

He was known for his contingencies. For having Plan B, C and all the way down to Z.  
  
But here.  
  
Here he was all out.  
  
There was no Plan B. There was no way out. The oxygen was limited, and quickly being drained.  
  
So he had to face facts. He had to face the cold hard truth.  
  
He and Damian were going to die.  
  
And god, he wished it wasn't this way. Wished more than anything there was something he could do. Break his hand to get through a door. Plead with a baddie, sacrifice himself for his son - anything to save Damian.  
  
But there was nothing. They were in the equivalent of a shipping container, all holes and potential doors sealed from the outside, thrown into the middle of the desert by an explosion, and covered with tons of debris from the airship that they had originally been carried on.

  
And their belts had been lost hours ago.  
  
But even if they could get out, they'd likely dehydrate in the heat before they got their bearings, or ever even saw a town. Would probably suffocate from lack of real oxygen before they got past the wreckage they were buried under.

Not to mention they were both bloody and bruised from the freefall. From their prison tumbling in the unforgiving sand.  
  
They were going to die. Bruce was going to die, and get his son killed in the process, and there was nothing Batman nor Robin could do about it.  
  
And he didn't have to say anything. Just after a moment of silence, after an hour of trying, he turned towards Damian. Damian looked back, and immediately his shoulders lowered.  
  
He knew.  
  
He knew and he wouldn’t fight it.  
  
Bruce swallowed the lump in his throat and held out his arm, cape and all. Inhaled, and let out a slow sigh.  
  
"Come here, son."  
  
And Damian did. Rushed into Bruce's arms, and held his father for dear life, even as Bruce enveloped him into his cape.  
  
There was instantly a buzz in both their ears, and Bruce already knew who it was. Tried to steel his heart against the emotions rushing through his blood.  
  
"Hang on," Dick breathed. "Just hang on, Batman, okay? We're coming. _I'm_ coming. So you and Robin - just hang on."  
  
Slowly, Bruce began to lower himself and Damian to the floor. Sighed again as he leaned against the wall, and kept his son against his side. "Dick-"  
  
"Shut up." Dick hissed desperately. Bruce heard an engine being shifted into a higher gear. "Shut up, B. I'm coming, I'm going to save you both, and there's nothing either of you can say about it."  
  
And despite the obvious, Bruce didn't have the heart to break Dick's hope. So he did was he was told. He shut his mouth and just silently rubbed at Damian's back, in an attempt at useless comfort.  
  
"Okay, Dick." He whispered instead. Felt Damian hold him tighter, in his own attempt not to upset his oldest and most beloved brother. Bruce just pulled his cowl back, and pressed a kiss to Damian's hair. "We'll be here."  
  
"You better be." Dick's voice broke in desperation. In tears already mounting. "You...you better be, Bruce."  
  
Bruce didn’t respond, and Dick didn’t push him for one. Just held his son, and held his faith, that against all odds and logic and facts, they’d make it.  
  
It was all he could do. For his own sake. For Damian’s. For Dick’s.  
  
Damian, for his part, was silent. Just clung to his father with everything he had. And Bruce should ask. After all, Damian had experience dying before. He could ask what it was like, but…it didn’t seem appropriate to.  
  
And he didn’t want to spend his last moments _preparing_. He wanted to spend it with his son. The one he was dooming - _had_ doomed, since the moment he was conceived - to death.  
  
“I’m sorry.” He mumbled into the crown of Damian’s head. “I’m so sorry, Damian. For everything.”  
  
Damian just shook his head, squeezed Bruce tighter to himself.  
  
“Don’t.” Damian whispered. “It’s not important.”  
  
“I love you.” Bruce continued - because that _was_ important. That was the most important thing in the world right now. “I love you so much, and always have. Even if you believed - even if it seemed like I didn’t.”  
  
“I know.” Damian rasped, and already the air was getting thin. They didn’t have long. “I’ve always known.”  
  
“Almost there.” Dick rasped through the comm. “Just hang on a little longer, guys.”  
  
They didn’t _have_ a little longer.  
  
“Just close your eyes.” Bruce murmured into Damian’s hair. “I won’t let you go. And I’ll be right behind you.”  
  
And Damian tried. He tried to tighten his grip on his father, but his power and consciousness were both fading.  
  
“…Promise?”  
  
And Bruce could do nothing but: “Promise.”  
  
Damian nodded, and Bruce felt him relax, finally giving in. Not dead, not yet. Just...accepting.  
  
“I love you, Richard. I always have.” Damian wheezed. “Thank you for loving me too.”  
  
“You can tell me that to my face when I get there.” Dick ground out, but still gentle in his delivery. Always gentle for his littlest brother. “Just hang on for me, kiddo, okay?”  
  
And already - Damian didn’t have the strength to respond.  
  
“...Okay, Damian?”  
  
A sigh, and Bruce had to close his eyes to hold back his tears.  
  
“Damian?!”  
  
“Yeah.” He croaked, and Dick let out a quiet sob. “‘Kay.”  
  
“I’m coming.” Dick repeated. “I’m almost there. I’m almost-“  
  
Bruce tuned him out. Focused on Damian and his breathing, and his shallowing own. Focused on the burning in his lungs, and how time seemed to be slowing.  
  
Then on one breath - he knew. He didn’t have many more.  
  
“Dick...”  
  
“Don’t. Please don’t say it.” Dick wailed. And Bruce knew his eldest was finally facing reality. “Please just hang on.”  
  
“I love you.” Bruce continued weakly. Felt Damian take one of his last breaths in his arms. “And I am so proud of you. I always have been.”  
  
“And you’ve always been able to escape death too, so do it again here. Please. _Please_ just get out, Bruce.” A pause, then a quiet, guilty whisper. “Please just get Damian out.”  
  
Bruce smiled. Because Dick was so precious. Because it was time.  
  
“I love you. And Damian loves you.” Bruce repeated. He heard Damian inhale, and watched the boy look up at him, tears running down his face. He took his final breath too. “Thank you so _much_ for loving us too, Dick.”  
  
“Bruce, no.”  
  
“Tell the others we love them too. Tim, Jason, Cassandra, Barbara, Stephanie. Alfred. Even those goddamn Kents.” Bruce chuckled as he closed his eyes. “Thank you. All of you. For making our lives better. For making us both so _happy_.”  
  
He leaned his head back against the wall then, and felt Damian slump completely against him. Then, everything went white.  
  
~~  
  
Tim showed up second, and went running into the wreckage.  
  
The smell of death mixed with the never-ending screams and echoing sobs.  
  
He’d heard. Of course he did, their communicators were open lines, _everyone_ heard. He knew before Dick did. Might have even known before Bruce.  
  
Slowly, he walked into the room. The room Dick had to use an explosive to get into. The man in question was collapsed to his knees in the corner, Damian’s lifeless body clutched in his arms, having been ripped from Bruce’s rigored hold. He was rocking back and forth, like the movement would revive his lost family.  
  
Tim swallowed the building lump in his own throat as he walked forward, and crouched next to Dick. He didn’t know where to look. He couldn’t look at Damian or Bruce, and Dick’s shattering was too much for even him to handle. So he looked at none of them. Just put a hand around Dick’s back, leaned his head on his shaking shoulder, and stared at the ground.

This loss. This tragedy. Just…this.

They were never, ever going to come back from this.


End file.
